Archive for December, 2008

I just got word from Adobe that a number of The ActionScript 3.0 Quick Reference Guide excerpts are freely available in PDF format from the Developer Connection’s ActionScript Technology Center: Check ’em out!

Most of us have at least one mentor, even if it’s someone we haven’t met in person. In fact, if you’re anything like me, you have a different mentor for each field that interests you: someone who inspires you to keep practicing the piano, to get creatively crazy in the kitchen, to learn yet another unicycle trick, and to keep strengthening your grasp on Flash (or Photoshop, or Dreamweaver … you get the idea).

When it comes to Flash, one of my mentors has helped me significantly with troubleshooting — with making things work when, against all expectation, they simply don’t work. In a recent four-part series I wrote for CommunityMX.com, I explored a single theme — troubleshooting — from a variety of angles, sharing with readers what my mentor has shared with me. Along the way, the series turns up a few quirks involved in working with Flash, but more importantly, it reviews how to approach arriving at useful workarounds, regardless what the issue is.

The first of four articles is free and investigates a puzzling visual issue I encountered while working on a set of custom UI tabs. (It was originally published back in November, but I didn’t realize at the time it was a freebie!) The follow-up articles go into other scenarios, and each one stands alone. Community MX offers free trial memberships, so it’s possible to read all four without cost, in addition to other CMX content. If you want to subscribe, do — but there’s no obligation.